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Saudi Arabia, Italy Sign MoU to Strengthen Cooperation in Sports 

The ministers sign the MoU on Tuesday. (SPA)
The ministers sign the MoU on Tuesday. (SPA)
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Saudi Arabia, Italy Sign MoU to Strengthen Cooperation in Sports 

The ministers sign the MoU on Tuesday. (SPA)
The ministers sign the MoU on Tuesday. (SPA)

Saudi Minister of Sport and Chairman of the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki bin Faisal signed on Tuesday a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Italy's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Antonio Tajani to boost sports cooperation between the Ministry of Sport and Italy’s Department for the Sport of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers.

The MoU aims to facilitate the exchange of technical and administrative expertise and programs between the relevant sports bodies in both countries, as well as cooperation in developing sports talent through mutual invitations to attend conferences and seminars held in Saudi Arabia and Italy.

Cooperation areas include sports infrastructure, sporting events, anti-doping efforts, community and Paralympic sports, in addition to sports investment, sports tourism, and other fields.

The MoU is part of the implementation of the cultural, scientific, and artistic cooperation agreement between the Kingdom and Italy, and aligns with the ministry’s objectives to strengthen partnerships with regional and international sports institutions in support of national goals.

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Sports

Flame Arrives in Italy for Milano Cortina Winter Games

Olympics - 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics - Olympic torch due to arrive at Rome airport and Italian Presidential Palace - Rome, Italy - December 4, 2025 President of the Milano Cortina 2026 Organizing Committee, Giovanni Malago and tennis player Italy's Jasmine Paolini arrive with the Olympic torch REUTERS/Remo Casilli
Olympics - 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics - Olympic torch due to arrive at Rome airport and Italian Presidential Palace - Rome, Italy - December 4, 2025 President of the Milano Cortina 2026 Organizing Committee, Giovanni Malago and tennis player Italy's Jasmine Paolini arrive with the Olympic torch REUTERS/Remo Casilli
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Flame Arrives in Italy for Milano Cortina Winter Games

Olympics - 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics - Olympic torch due to arrive at Rome airport and Italian Presidential Palace - Rome, Italy - December 4, 2025 President of the Milano Cortina 2026 Organizing Committee, Giovanni Malago and tennis player Italy's Jasmine Paolini arrive with the Olympic torch REUTERS/Remo Casilli
Olympics - 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics - Olympic torch due to arrive at Rome airport and Italian Presidential Palace - Rome, Italy - December 4, 2025 President of the Milano Cortina 2026 Organizing Committee, Giovanni Malago and tennis player Italy's Jasmine Paolini arrive with the Olympic torch REUTERS/Remo Casilli

The Olympic flame arrived in Rome on Thursday in preparation for a two-month torch relay designed to stir excitement across Italy before the Winter Games in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo in February.

Italian Olympic tennis doubles champion Jasmine Paolini and Milano Cortina Games organizing chief Giovanni Malago carried the lantern down the steps of an ITA Airways flight from Athens, Reuters reported.

The Italian hosts had received the flame in a ceremony at Athens' Panathenaic Stadium earlier on Thursday.

In a scaled-down event due to heavy rain warnings, as was the case when the flame was lit in ancient Olympia last week, the handover took place inside the vast marble-clad stadium.

"Italy is proud of its Olympic heritage... as we get ready to write the next chapter in our Olympic story," said Malago, with only a handful of officials and spectators present in Athens.

Italy, a winter sports powerhouse, last hosted the Winter Olympics in 2006 with the Turin Games.

"It will be an incredible 63-day adventure," Malago said, speaking ahead of the torch relay which starts on Saturday from Rome's fascist-era Stadio dei Marmi.

"After two decades of waiting, the Olympic flame is returning to Italy," he added.

The 12,000-km journey will take in all 20 Italian regions plus 110 provinces and pass through 60 Italian cities and 300 towns with a total of 10,001 torchbearers.

The flame will visit famous landmarks including the Colosseum in Rome and the Grand Canal in Venice, with stops in southern cities such as Palermo and Naples to generate interest in areas where winter sports are not as prominent.

It will be in Cortina d’Ampezzo on January 26 – exactly 70 years after the opening ceremony of the 1956 Games at the same venue - and the relay will finish on February 6 at the opening ceremony at Milan's San Siro stadium.

Sports

Toyota to Become Title Sponsor of Haas F1 Team

FILE PHOTO: Toyota Motor Corp's logo is pictured at its dealership in Tokyo, Japan April 3, 2025. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Toyota Motor Corp's logo is pictured at its dealership in Tokyo, Japan April 3, 2025. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo/File Photo
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Toyota to Become Title Sponsor of Haas F1 Team

FILE PHOTO: Toyota Motor Corp's logo is pictured at its dealership in Tokyo, Japan April 3, 2025. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Toyota Motor Corp's logo is pictured at its dealership in Tokyo, Japan April 3, 2025. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo/File Photo

Toyota Gazoo Racing, the Japanese car maker's motorsport division, will become title sponsor of the Haas Formula One team next season in a deal that strengthens an existing technical partnership.

The US-owned team, who use Ferrari engines and also have close ties with Maranello, said they would be rebranded as TGR Haas F1 from 2026.

"Our working relationship to date has been everything we hoped it would be," said Haas's Japanese principal Ayao Komatsu.

"The cultivation of personnel, all working collaboratively between Haas F1 Team and TGR, has benefited us greatly and that’s something that will only increase as our partnership matures."

Haas, the smallest of what will be 11 teams on the starting grid next season, are eighth in the standings ahead of this weekend's season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

They announced a multi-year technical partnership with Toyota in October last year, a move that brought Japan's biggest carmaker back to grand prix racing for the first time since 2009.

Toyota has provided design, technical and manufacturing services and used the partnership to develop young drivers, engineers and mechanics through a testing of previous car programs.

"Throughout our challenges in the 2025 season, I witnessed young TGR drivers and engineers begin to believe in their own potential and set their sights on even greater dreams," Reuters quoted Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda as saying in a statement.

"The time has come for the next generation to take their first steps toward the world stage. Together with Gene Haas, Ayao, and everyone at TGR Haas F1 Team, we will build both a culture and a team for the future. Toyota is now truly on the move."

The team will unveil their 2026 livery online on January 23 before a first test behind closed doors at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya on January 26-30.

Sports

Sevilla Stadium Partially Closed after Fans Throw Objects in Derby

Soccer Football - LaLiga - Sevilla v FC Barcelona - Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, Seville, Spain - October 5, 2025 General view of sprinklers watering the pitch inside the stadium before the match REUTERS/Marcelo Del Pozo
Soccer Football - LaLiga - Sevilla v FC Barcelona - Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, Seville, Spain - October 5, 2025 General view of sprinklers watering the pitch inside the stadium before the match REUTERS/Marcelo Del Pozo
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Sevilla Stadium Partially Closed after Fans Throw Objects in Derby

Soccer Football - LaLiga - Sevilla v FC Barcelona - Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, Seville, Spain - October 5, 2025 General view of sprinklers watering the pitch inside the stadium before the match REUTERS/Marcelo Del Pozo
Soccer Football - LaLiga - Sevilla v FC Barcelona - Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan, Seville, Spain - October 5, 2025 General view of sprinklers watering the pitch inside the stadium before the match REUTERS/Marcelo Del Pozo

Sevilla's Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium will be partially closed for the next three games after fans threw objects onto the pitch during their 2-0 loss to Real Betis in Sunday's LaLiga derby, Spain's football federation said on Wednesday.

The disciplinary committee also imposed a 45,000 euro ($52,461) fine on the club following the incident, which delayed the match for 15 minutes when objects were hurled from behind the Fondo Norte goal, reported Reuters.

Referee Jose Munuera halted the game and eventually led players off the pitch after the crowd failed to comply.

"Sevilla FC will appeal the partial closure of the Sanchez-Pizjuan Stadium due to the events that occurred during the derby, doing so in both sporting and ordinary instances," the club said in a statement.

The disciplinary committee also punished Sevilla forward Isaac Romero with a two-match ban for a red-card offense related to violent conduct on the sidelines during the same game.

The club said Romero's expulsion "will also be appealed."

Sevilla, currently 13th in the LaLiga standings with 16 points, trail Real Betis, who sit fifth with 24 points.